


Two Breaths In

by clairedearing



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gift!Fic, M/M, five times and plus one fic, omg lele's going to kill me for this though, that one fic that was supposed to be more that 20000 words but wasn't, the fic that's fucking poetic for no reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-13
Updated: 2012-07-13
Packaged: 2017-11-09 21:20:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/458568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clairedearing/pseuds/clairedearing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were five times that Erica was sure that Derek was in love with Stiles, and there was one time someone believed her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Breaths In

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Italiano available: [Two Breaths In](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2215608) by [thesterekproject](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesterekproject/pseuds/thesterekproject)



> For Lele, who asked for it, and then had really high hopes that I’m probably going to kill. I just...rolled with it. I'm sorry for sucking so.

.i.

Derek breaths in, and then out.

Erica watches as his gaze rests on Stiles, and there’s quiet. She wants to look at Scott, to ask him ‘does this happen often?’ but then Scott is ducking his eyes away and she knows the answer is ‘yes’.

.ii.

“I think he was scared,” Erica whispers to Isaac and Boyd. They both give her confused looks, and she heaves a breath, willing herself to clairfy. “I think Derek was scared, when we saw the Kanima above Stiles, when he pushed him back and told him to run.”

“No,” Isaac says, tension underlining his voice. “No, he wasn’t. He couldn’t be.”

( _But he was_ , Erica doesn’t say, and bites her lip. _He was._ )

iii.

Erica stops short. “Scott or Stiles?”

Derek pauses. (She watches his shoulders tense, his hands tighten, his inhale of breath.)

“Either one.”

iv.

She’s read the comics. She grew up on them. (Absent mothers and fathers tend to do that to a child.) Catwoman is the incorrigible, but well-meaning villain. Batman is the vigilante - the hero who tries to save her. She can be Catwoman, she thinks to herself. She could be Catwoman who’s all leather and whips and teasing smirks, and as Stiles holds her, and brushes back her hair, she thinks she could be the Catwoman to his Batman.

But then, above her, Stiles looks at Derek, and Derek looks at Stiles, and the younger boy’s heart pounds in his chest, against Erica’s ear. ( _Derek,_ she pleaded, conscious for only a second to feel Scott’s arms around her. _Derek, please, to Derek._ Derek would save her, and save the day, and keep her safe. Her own personal Superman. _Please, Derek._ )

She can be Catwoman, and Stiles can be Batman.

But, she had always thought that Superman and Batman were in love anyway.

.v.

The rain beats so hard, she can scarcely hear herself think. _This is it,_ she thinks. _This is how we die, isn’t it._

She had always thought that her death would be behind the wheel of a car, or something of the sort, when she suddenly would loose her bodily functions and kill herself. There’d be a memorial service at the school she likes to think. People would mourn the girl that they never paid attention to except to mock.

Derek doesn’t say anything. He hasn’t said anything since they were separated from Stiles and Scott.

Erica stops for a second, before following him around a bend of trees. “They’re alright.”

She watches as Derek pauses, but doesn’t look back, before moving on. “Who?”

“Scott,” Erica says, and after a beat, she continues. “Stiles.”

“They’re fine,” Derek says, too fast. There’s a moment of silence, before; “They’re fine.”

“Stiles can handle himself.”

Derek’s shoulders tighten.

…

“I know he can.”

(Later, a few minutes afterwards, when the rain is pouring, and they suddenly hear Scott, and Derek freezes when Stiles comes in view, and they stare at each other, and Erica feels like she’s watching a horrible movie with a plot line too similar to Atonement, because suddenly Stiles is moving, and Derek is moving, and they meet half way, and it’s not a surprise when Derek kisses Stiles like he’s his last breath before he drowns, like he’s his last grasp on life before he falls to his death, like he’s the only thing Derek has to live for. It shouldn’t be a surprise, but Erica still smiles and wonders _now, how did that happen.)_

.+ i.

It’s three in the morning when Boyd rolls over to face her, and she realizes that they’ve both been awake for far too long.  

“I believe you. I know Isaac can’t handle the idea of Derek being scared, but I believe you,” he murmurs, and it takes a moment for her to connect the dots. She goes to say something, but he continues before she can. “Whenever he talks about Stiles...it’s like how I always imagined my dad talking about my momma. Reverently, you know? Like even though Stiles is on the other side, he can’t do anything wrong.”

Erica nods, slowly. “Do you think...do you think he loves him?”

Boyd sighs. “Does it matter?”

“I think it does,” Erica whispers. “If I loved someone, I’d never let them go.”

“Maybe he can’t love him,” Boyd says, searching Erica’s eyes. “Maybe Derek doesn’t know how.”

There’s something that suddenly pounds in Erica’s chest.

“Stiles will teach him.”

“You think that?”

Erica looks at Boyd and smiles. “I know he will. I’ve never seen someone more in love than I do with Derek and Stiles. I’ve never _believed_ that someone could love someone else as much as Derek does Stiles.”

Boyd’s hand wraps lightly around hers, and she squeezes it gently, before letting her eyes fall shut.

“Then they're going to be happy,” Boyd says, right before she falls asleep. She dreams of the family she never had.

(In a few months, Derek will kiss Stiles, and they’ll dance around each other, and Erica will watch as they grow closer, and closer, until Derek and Stiles somehow becomes Derek and Stiles, but then again, she thinks, they were always Derek and Stiles. She wants to ask when it started, and when it happened, and what the end product is going to be, but it’s all worth it to see Derek smile, and Stiles grin, and watch as they hold hands and just _be_.)

 

 

 


End file.
